Lone Tree might have been any town in the early 1900’s when a band was as necessary to community pride and self respect as was its fire department. The usual practice room was back of, or above the engine house, or it may have been in the back room of a grocery store if the proprietor chanced to be a bandmember. Here the public-spirited citizens tooted away through long hours preparing for the weekly or monthly concert. To the townspeople these blaring sounds were a promise of good times to come; for the band concert was a big social event, not only in the towns but also in the surrounding communities. Stores remained open on those nights. Hitching racks were all occupied. Families and young couples came in various kinds of conveyances from lumber wagons to surreys with fringed tops and occasionally a Ford or perhaps a Pierce-Arrow. The young people strolled around the commons or parks in the moonlight; older women visited with relatives or friends; while the men gathered in small groups to talk about politics or crops. All discussed their favorite “pieces” from _The Poet and Peasant_ overture to _Listen to the Mocking Bird_ with variations. The latter gave the cornetist an opportunity to display his technique, and he seldom failed his audience. The municipal band became a unifying influence of the entire community, and by 1912 nearly every town of any size in the United States had some kind of a band. Victor and Columbia Record Companies were selling 1,000,000 march records a year. The march kings were as eagerly followed as the popular jazz kings of today. Maintaining a band was not easy, but subscription and taxation plans were used in many municipalities of all sizes even in rural communities. Major George W. Landers of Clarinda, Iowa, a prominent bandmaster himself, fathered the Iowa Band Law, a model for similar legislation in more than half the states of the Union. This law permitted towns and cities of less than 40,000 to levy a local tax “for maintenance or employment of a band for musical purposes.” Major Landers holds a high place in band history. Police and fire department bands, many of which are still in existence, have rendered a real service to their communities. Service clubs such as Kiwanis, Rotary, Exchange, and Lion, have sponsored juvenile bands in many towns and cities. Fraternal orders, American Legion Posts, Veterans of Foreign Wars and other organizations today support some fine bands. The small-town band is a distinctly American tradition, one of those we often associate with “the good old days.” But today’s municipal bands are directly descended from those town bands, good or bad as they may have been. Colonel George Howard, leader of the Army Air Force Band, says, “Town bands were organized and conducted by men who had a real love for music, organizational ability, and community spirit. We must never underestimate the tremendous job they did in helping to elevate the plane of American culture.”